Chi siamo

The Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) has been carrying out research activities for many years in the fields of PRNP genetics and the characterization of strains of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), or prion diseases, of animals. The research conducted by the Emerging Zoonoses Unit of the Food safety, nutrition and veterinary public health Department helped to determine the genetic characteristics of resistance to scrapie in the Italian sheep and goat populations and to identify the strains of scrapie and BSE present in Italy and their risk for humans. The Emerging Zoonosis unit performs national (NRL) and European (EURL) reference functions in the areas of genetics and characterization of TSE strains.

Romolo Nonno – Head of NRL, responsible for biological typing activities

Barbara Chiappini – Responsible for PrP genotyping

Laura Pirisinu – Responsible for the molecular characterization of prion strains

Gabriele Vaccari e Gaia Scavia – Responsible for of the genotyping survey of the prion protein (PrP) in the national sheep population